“Bucs are lying to me” – When Lawrence Tynes sued Buccaneers for giving him MRSA infection

Kicker Lawrence Tynes won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. He then went on to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after kicker Connor Barth suffered a season-ending injury. Just one month after signing with the Bucs, he had a procedure to remove an ingrown toenail and subsequently contracted the very serious and contagious MRSA virus.

Tynes missed the entire 2013 NFL season due to the infection and never played in the league again after being released by Tampa Bay in March 2014.

In 2015, the former kicker filed a lawsuit against the Buccaneers for $20 million. He said that the team failed to disclose that there were ongoing cases of MRSA within the facility. Fellow Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates Carl Nicks and Jonathan Banks also contracted MRSA. Nicks also never played in the NFL again after that.

"No one cultured my toe at the facility. I left that facility on my own and found a doctor in town and said, 'Can you look at my toe because I think all the doctors at the Bucs are lying to me.'"

In his lawsuit, Lawrence Tynes claimed that the Bucs knew that the infection was a possibility and still didn't do anything to prevent the spread or treat his injury when it was brought to their attention. The former NFL kicker said that he went to another doctor outside the team and was quickly diagnosed.

In 2017, Tynes and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to an agreement on an undisclosed amount to settle the lawsuit.

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How serious was Lawrence Tynes' MRSA infection?

After contracting MRSA and essentially not getting treatment for the infection for over a week, the former kicker was ultimately diagnosed. In an interview with ESPN in 2015, he said that doctors almost amputated his toe due to the infection.

He also had to undergo three surgeries afterward and had a peripherally inserted central line (PIC) for six weeks so that he could receive antibiotics at home.

The pain in his toe prevented him from kicking in the National Football League afterward. He said that there were interested teams that contacted him in 2014 and 2015 asking if he wanted to come for a tryout. But the pain in his toe when he stepped on it was just too bad to continue his career.